


Cry of Anguish

by spitshineboi



Category: Antiope - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24813727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spitshineboi/pseuds/spitshineboi
Summary: Morituri te Salutant!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Cry of Anguish

The last thing she heard was her wife’s cry of anguish as her world weakened and died away to black. She was so angry because there was nothing there… just blackness. She didn’t know how long the blackness lasted, was it really forever? But eventually she began to see again. The black turned to grey and that started to slowly swirl. Suddenly it looked as if she were flying through swirling grey clouds. She didn’t feel the wind but she felt movement and it nauseated her. The reality of this vision scared her, but she pushed through the fear until she began to understand what she saw. This understanding left her drained. Was it true? Was it real? It certainly felt real. This was her existence; or was this non-existence? She thought she was dead, but couldn’t be sure. Time had no meaning. She felt as if she had been there forever but had no way to tell. She was dizzy one moment and had perfect clarity the next. However, no matter what was real or not, she was here and she could accept that. With acceptance came understanding. She was here and she was aware. That was enough.

The world came into focus, quickly, sharply, but it was like twilight. The only real color was that of fire. Everything else was grey or very pale. There was no life here. She looked down and saw the grievous wound in her chest. There was blood everywhere but she felt nothing. There was no pain. That was good. She looked up and saw the others then. Every Amazon she had ever lost was there. One stepped up to her, it was Menione, one she had lost thousands of years earlier at the battle of Corinth. Menione had bright red hair if she remembered correctly. It seemed dull now, was it the light?

“Welcome Strategos,” Menione said. “I’m sorry to see that you have joined us.”

She took a deep breath and focused herself. “I am sorry too Menione,” she answered. “Where is here? Who is in charge here? What do we do here?”

Menione said. “This is the afterlife Antiope, Hades. We are dead. There isn’t much to do here Strategos. Let’s see… we can maneuver and practice… we fight centaurs sometimes, but for what? We are already dead and we come back if we die again. Many of us sit or play games, tell stories, exist.”

She sighed, for a moment, a total why should I care and why do I bother moment came over her. Again, she took a deep breath before answering. “We will find something to do. I believe this to be so Menione. Who is in charge?”

Menione smiled. “I’m glad. Otrera is in charge.”

Antiope perked a bit at hearing Otrera’s name. She had been a mother to her and Hippolyta in the long, distant past. It would be good to see her.

[][][][][]

“Hello Antiope,” an extremely familiar voice said. Antiope whirled around. It was Iole, the woman she had nearly married so many years before. Iole’s death had cut her deeply and it had taken more than a year for her to recover. In the long run it had all turned out alright as she had later married Menalippe, the woman who had become her soul mate. But this was a difficult situation. How could she talk to Iole and not hurt her? Once again, she sighed deeply before saying anything.

“Hello Iole. You look well.”

“I am Antiope,” Iole answered. “You?”

“Not really,” she answered truthfully. “I shouldn’t be here. I should be home having a quiet evening with my wife. I miss her.”

“Ah,” Iole said as she nodded. “You’re married then?”

“Yes,” Antiope said as her eyes filled with tears. “I truly miss her, I’m not just saying that. She is the light of my life.”

Iole was still able to pull the emotions out of Antiope. Good or bad, they always boiled to the surface. She hadn’t wanted to even tell Iole she was married but she did. It was nearly the first thing out of her mouth. 

“Are you mad at me for marrying her?” Antiope asked quietly. It wasn’t that she really cared whether or not Iole was mad but, she needed to know for her own peace of mind. No, that wasn’t right; she did care. 

“Not at all my friend,” Iole answered, enveloping Antiope in her arms, “you did exactly as I hoped you would. You lived your life.”

“Thank you,” Antiope replied, burrowing into and murmuring into Iole’s chest. And then she cried for quite some time. She truly needed the release.

[][][][][]

Later, after an unknown amount of time, time didn’t matter in the afterlife, Antiope made her way to Otrera’s presence. On her way to see Otrera, she spent time talking to all the Amazons in Hades, making sure they knew she was there and answering questions about life since they had died. She found herself telling stories of battles and peace and the move to Themiscrya. She told stories of the wonderful grape harvest this last year and stories of the giant fish that always got away. Eventually she makes her way to the foothills of a mountain range and finds Otrera’s yurt. Amazons hadn’t used those for millennia and she had forgotten how warm and nice they were on the inside. 

Once inside she saluted and waited for Otrera’s attention which, after a short time, was returned. Then the smiles and hugging began and, finally, the stories began to flow. Otrera had been Antiope’s strategos way back when Hippolyta and. Antiope and Otrera were new to their world. It was she who had been the third of them born from the mouth of the Thermodon. When they ascended, together. She had been much older than Hippolyta and Antiope though and had so become their “mother”. She’d been Strategos and Queen of the entire Amazon army for years and saw something in her lochagos, Antiope. When Otrera had died she had been surrounded by those she wished to succeed her; her choice to lead and rule and her choice to lead her armies, Hippolyta and Antiope. 

Life after Otreras’ death had been hard at first. Hippolyta found her incorporation with some difficulties. But, after a year or two, she was solid on her throne and the nation absolutely adored her. Antiope finds her place almost instantly. The Amazons were completely fed up with Otreras’ leadership as so many were dying from foolish orders and expectations. Antiope was one of the soldiers herself. She fought “in the trenches” with her soldiers and never led from the back. She was always in the thick of things. Her planning skills were phenomenal and once Hippolyta came into her full powers the nation was unstoppable. Life had been good.

But over the hundreds of years it took to destroy those cities that had enslaved them the Amazons suffered great losses. All those who had died were here in Hades as well as those who died prior or during the first few days of the insurrection. Also, here were those that had died since the move to Themiscyra. All people that Antiope had known. It wasn’t so bad here, though. She was among her sisters, many had found everlasting love, and many played the field. It was life. 

One of the first things Antiope saw after ending up here, where-ever here really was, was that everyone was bored. Beyond bored actually. They wee actually torpid. If this was the Elysium or Asphodel Fields then she certainly didn’t want to see Tartarus. So, she set out to find something that they all could do. She started with games, Olympic style games, with boxing and discus, javelin throws, spear throwing for distance and accuracy, knife throwing, sword fighting, archery-distance, accuracy, free style, wrestling, and all the other sports you could think of. It brought the tribes of Amazons back around to cohesiveness. It was good. But Otrera was not happy, even though she had told Antiope to make the troops happy again

But that wasn’t all. Word got around to all the other groups of people and so-called monsters. Humans from every age, Cyclopes, Atlanteans, Centaurs, Nymphs, Demons, all of them. These “Games” became so intense. Training, practicing, and competing became the way of life. But not the only way. Plays were written and performed, stone carving and woodworking, metalwork of all kinds from armor to decorative things, weaving, sewing, writing, art of every style, all was practiced and showcases were common.

It all boiled down to these games.

There were always “battle pageants”, where armies of different groups clashed and victories won while many “died” and, of course, resurrected from their death. Certainly, it was painful but you can’t kill something that is already dead. The Amazons only ever lost to one team… the demons. How to fix that? First, they practiced different tactics on them. No good. Then they tried working with other groups starting with the Atlanteans. Still no good. Then others were added and finally it was enough when everyone worked together, following the Amazons. This worked. They defeated the demons. They discovered that by working together they could defeat anything

Otrera was extremely angry. Antiope had taken much of her power from her. Her general Amazon population followed Antiope instead of her now. Her, Otrera, their queen! She soon seethed with resentment, completely ignoring the fact that she told Antiope about the problem in the first place and asked for her help in getting the troops into doing something they liked and wanted to do.

Finally, Otrera had had enough! She dressed herself for war and took her shield and xiphos  
As she marched out of her tent and over to the training ground, all she could think of was revenge. Revenge for the slight, the ignoring, the fact that Antiope had stolen her people ’s love and given them something they loved instead. How dare she make them happy again! She was almost completely insane with anger.

Otrera found Antiope working with the archers, helping them to find better accuracy with their flights. She bellowed at Antiope as she ran towards Antiope, screaming at her for taking Otrera’s army away from her. Claiming that Antiope was treasonous for starting these games. It was all Antiope’s fault! Otrera screamed this as she swung her Xiphos at Antiope’s back. Antiope was able to twist out of the way, barely.

As Antiope twisted she drew her own xiphos. She was able to raise her sword and, somehow, block Otrera’s next thrust, barely. The next few minutes were full of thrusts, full body swings, being smacked down with shield, or the butt end of a xiphos. During this time Otrera continued yelling over and over again. Antiope was quiet. She never said anything. She watched Otrera though, noting weaknesses, strengths, and tendencies. She didn’t want to kill Otrera, she was the third born of the Amazons after all. Antiope had finally had enough, though, and she finally took charge of the fight. Every part of her became aa weapon, from her head to her feet. She quickly divested Otrera from her shield by switching the hand holding her xiphos and reaching under the shield with her right hand, grasping the edge and pulling it off Otrera’s arm and flinging it into the trunk of a nearby tree. Then she started to use her other arm and legs against Otrera, tripping her and slapping the blade away from her as needed. Eventually Antiope tripped Otrera and Otrera went down, hard. Antiope kicked the xiphos away and went down on top of Otrera.

“Do you yield Otrera?” Antiope snarled. Otrera said nothing, just gave an evil look at Antiope.

“Fine,” Antiope said. “Do we wrestle now?”

She received nothing from Otrera. Antiope leaned down close to her face; she didn’t want anyone else to hear her just yet. “I’ve always been better than you Otrera,” Antiope murmured. “You were only put into your original position because Hippolyta and I were afraid to take charge. We were wrong. You became a tyrant. I could easily beat you, could easily beat Hippolyta, any time I wanted, but I did nothing. That is my fault. You need to step down now Otrera.”

Otrera slowly nodded, accepting what Antiope said.

“Say it!” Antiope said, gruffly.

“I yield,” Otrera sputtered. Antiope stood from Otrera’s back and held out her hand to help Otrera up.

“I don’t want to be queen. But the second my sister is here you Will abdicate in her favor.”

‘Agreed,” Otrera said.

And, with that, they walked away.


End file.
